About

I am a textile designer and maker living in Shetland.  I trained as a marine biologist and after a few years working in research and teaching I returned to college to study Art and Design.  In 2001 I set up my business sparked by an interest in making felt from fleeces from my families flock of sheep.

I have used a variety of textiles and techniques in my past work and have mainly worked with pressed wool felt in recent years. I create a range of accessories using this material which you can see (and buy) on www.notonthehighstreet.com/donnasmithdesigns

I am very interested in the knitting techniques used in Shetland and am passionate about helping to retain these skills.  I learned to knit at a very young age, we were taught knitting at school and I grew up surrounded by knitters.  When I was at primary school I made Shetland lace scarves that my Granny used to sell for me and I knitted a Lopi when I was ten. 

 

After a fairly long break from knitting, I returned to it again seriously (some might say obsessively!).  I have been working on a series of patterns for handknitting and plan to release them soon.